BioShock

This must be underwater love...

More Images

The year is 1960. When a passenger plane suddenly crashes in the middle of the Atlantic, its sole survivor breaks the fiery surface to find himself staring at a mysterious lighthouse. Alone as the tail section of the wrecked plane finally sinks into the murky depths, he makes for the lighthouse steps and the safety a dry interior will surely bring. However, upon entry, what he instead finds is a gateway to a mysterious underwater city, one man's bold vision to create a world away from the rule of government and the scrutiny of religion, where science and technology can forge forward towards genetic perfection without the parasitic shackles of shallow-minded restraint. Welcome to Rapture.

Yet Rapture now lies in ruins, its once bustling corridors, halls, and walkways teeming with Splicers, genetic freaks violently obsessed with the attainment of Adam, the flowing lifeblood of Rapture, the very root of its self-destruction, which is harvested from the dead by the eerie Little Sisters and their guardian Big Daddies. Met via short-wave radio by Atlus, a Rapture resident seeking a way to rescue his trapped family and secure a return to the surface, the player is tasked with aiding and assisting in order to further their interlocked freedoms. It soon becomes clear, however, that in order to survive while unravelling the city's mysteries, the player must also begin splicing Rapture's dangerous genetic Plasmid enhancements into his body while seeking out the Little Sisters and the invaluable Adam they carry with them.

Usual videogame reviews offer the reader sensible and structured build up, exercising considered and constructive evaluation of the subject matter in a tiered compartmentalised delivery that culminates smoothly with a closing summation and a percentage score award. But then, this is not a usual review, and BioShock is far removed from a usual videogame. So bearing that in mind, let's cut to the chase and offer explanation afterwards: We award BioShock a mind-melting score of 98%.

And why? The summer has been a veritable software dirge that has all-but sapped the very soul from the industry thanks to shamelessly poor titles such as Shrek the Third, Hour of Victory, and Transformers: The Game, all of which have waltzed into the setting sun with thoroughly undeserved revenue. However, every trough has an accompanying peak, and a bright ray of hope has this weak abruptly split the cloying darkness as autumn approaches, providing a burning beacon boldly proclaiming that some developers and publishers remain dedicated to creating truly wondrous videogame experiences.

Regardless of whether you own an Xbox 360 - though hopefully this review may contribute to swaying any lingering platform indecision - BioShock from 2K Games simply must be raised aloft by all those who come into contact with it - for the greater good of videogaming's future. While that may sound somewhat melodramatic, the stark reality is that far too many videogame studios are churning out bland, uninspired and wholly mediocre products that occupy exactly the same retail price point as BioShock yet are unequivocally eclipsed by it in every way imaginable. Indeed, sitting goggle-eyed through the astonishing 15-20 hours of underwater immersion on offer in BioShock only serves to magnify exactly how much we, the ever-faithful consumers, are being repeatedly short-changed with most of our software purchases.

But what is it that sets BioShock apart from its equally-priced rivals? What does it have that other great first-person shooters do not? What qualifies it as a bona fide frontrunner for Game of the Year even though the likes of Halo 3, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and Super Mario Galaxy have not even been revealed?

First of all, BioShock screams pure uncompromising quality from its opening frame to its closing cinematic and only ever builds on that ethos of quality as the game progresses. Truly, from the moment the player emerges into the sprawling underwater city of Rapture and its breathtaking submerged vistas, it is crystal clear that every succeeding footstep is to be cherished, every environment to be savoured, and every narrative morsel to be ravenously devoured.

For the first third of the game, BioShock feels comfortably familiar in its delivery, unfolding as a relatively linear - though staggeringly beautiful - standard-issue first-person shooter. Yet, as the player becomes acclimatised to the surroundings and the gameplay mixture of traditional weaponry and genetic Plasmid powers, 2K Games promptly begin twisting the structure, the tension, and the narrative.

Gradually, more and more opportunities for variety and personal preference are integrated into the experience, along with vast satisfying level areas that draw the player away from scripted goals in order to explore every available nook and cranny. Never before in an FPS has the RPG-esque pilfering of corpses, trashcans, storage containers, desks, and cupboards for anything remotely valuable and/or useful been so relentlessly compelling. And that's mainly down to the fact that Rapture is an idealistic Utopian dream destroyed, portrayed through an uneasy blend of chaos and ruin where hunting down food scraps and mechanical leftovers is just as vital to success and survival as the ever more powerful Plasmids, essential boost Tonics, and cobbled home-made weaponry upgrades. Nothing in Rapture is wasted. Everything has a purpose and function.